Idaho Flim Flams Feds For Funds

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Idaho Flim Flams Feds For Funds

July 15, 2005 ⋅

We have to admit the following is based on a STATESMAN piece by business writer Melissa McGrath and we have to figure she got her facts right. However, the spin of the story and the headline “GRANT WILL HELP EX-HP WORKERS” misses the whole point.

The real story is, “IDAHO FLIM FLAMS FEDS FOR FUNDS.” After you toss out the B.S. from the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor it appears the state got a federal grant for $865,770 to help just six Hewlett-Packard workers who QUIT THEIR JOBS!!

Only six of the 350 workers who quit last May have applied for any retraining or job seeking assistance. The state applied for the grant in May when voluntary severance packages were announced by the electronics firm.

Idaho Department of Labor Senior planner Kay Vaughn made sense when she explained that a grant application was filed in May when it looked like 200 workers would be on the streets. But only six people have asked for help. The state folks are literally “advertising” for more people to seek welfare from the public. AND she says, if they run short, the state will just ask for even MORE tax dollars from Washington.

What a waste of money! If the state would just return that $850,000 to the U.S. Treasury it could pay for the helicopters, floatboats, horses, ambulances, and hotels used by the Secret Service when Vice Prez Dick Cheney fly fishes the South Fork of the Snake River east of Idaho Falls. The same Idaho Department of Commerce (and Labor) has data on how many times those “tourist” dollars multiply in the local economy.

Based on the $2,000 average amount given to those enrolled in the “dislocated worker program” we think the feds got flim flammed of funds to the tune of about $850,000.

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